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Show 600 ADVICE '1'0 COLLEC'l'ORS, Oct. 1836. bottles open at the same time, so that one may serve for crustacea, another for animals for dissection, another for ~inute specimens, another for fish, always putting the latter mto the strongest spirit. Any how it is absolutely necessa::- y to keep a couple of receiving bottles in which every thing can at :first be put, and afterwards transferred to the permanent bottles with fresh spirits. Without assistance from government, and plenty of room, it is most disheartenin~ .work to attempt to bring home many specimens in spmts, although without doubt in such a state they are very f~r the most valuable. I should recommend any one Circumstance~ as I was t? preserve the skins only of large :fish and reptiles. But w1th room and means at command ~et the collector place no limit to the number of his glas~ Jars. With respect to the catalogues it is inconvenient to have many; but there must at least be two, one for the tin labels 0r ~pecimens in spirits, and another for the paper numbers whiC.h should be applied indiscriminately to every kind of spe.ctmen. If the observer has any particular branch to ~hiCh he devotes much attention, a third catalogue exclusively _£or such. specimens is desirable: I kept a third for geological specimens and fossils. In a like manner notes should be as simple as possible : I kept one set for geology and another for zoological and all other observations. It i~ ":ell to endea~our to write upon separate pages remarks on diffe~ent specimens; for much copying will thus be saved. ~y JOUrnal was likewise kept distinct from the other subJects. I found an arrangement carried thus far very useful: a ~raveller ?Y land would, I suppose, be obliged to adopt a still more simple plan. Use arsenical soap* for all skins, but do not neglect to brush the legs and beak with a solution of corrosive sublimate. * Seeds must not be sent home in the same case WI.th sk· d · th · ms prepare WI poison, camphor, or essential oils; scarcely any of mine germinat d and Professor Henslow thinks they were thus killed. e ' Oct. 1836. ADVICE '1'0 COLLEC'fORS. 601 Likewise slightly brush over all dried plants with the solution. For collecting insects use a plain strong sweeping-net, and pack the specimens of all orders, excepting Iepidoptera, between layers of rag in pill-boxes, placing at the bottom a bit of camphor; this costs scarcel!J any trouble, and the insects, especially thousands of unknown minute ones, arrive in an excellent state. Take a good stock of chip pill-boxesa simple plain strong microscope, such as that long ago described by Ellis-a good stock of lace-needles, with glass tubes and sealingwax, for the purpose of making dissecting instruments. I need not mention small collecting bottles covered with leather, tin boxes, dissecting scissors, blowpipe case, compasses, mountain barometer, &c. I should recommend a sort of work-box :fitted up to hold watch-glasses, glass micrometers, pins, string, printed numbers, &c.; and I found a small cabinet with drawers, some lined with cork, and others with cross partitions, most useful as a temporary storehouse. Pack up for shipment every specimen of everg kind in boxes lined with tinned plates, and soldeTed together : if the case be large the specimens should further be packed into light pasteboard or other boxes, for by long pressure even skins of quadrupeds are injured. On no account whatever put bottles with spirits of wine, though ever so well packed, in the same case with other specimens, for if one should break every thing near it will be spoiled, as I found to my cost in one in stance. When limited either in time, funds, or space, let not the collector crowd too many specimens either into one bottle, or into one case. For he should constantly bear in mind as his second motto, that " It is better to send home a few things well preserved, than a multitude in a bad condition.'' As long as due steps are taken that the harvest may not be spoiled, let him not be disheartened, because he may for a long time be labouring by himself; let him work hard from morning to night, for every day and every hour is precious |